Sink May Challenge Jolly in Florida for Second Time

Despite Alex Sink’s defeat last month to Republican David Jolly in a special election for a Florida House seat, she’s being lobbied "publicly and privately" by House Democrats to challenge Jolly again in November’s midterm election, CNN’s John King said Sunday on "Inside Politics."

"They think still she is the strongest candidate in November," King said. "Not so much because of her strengths and weaknesses. But they’ve run an analysis and they think with Charlie Crist as the Democratic nominee for governor" Sink can fare better.

Democrats have "run a new voter model that says even though she lost the special election by two points, they think she would win in November by about a point-and-a-half" because of Crist's popularity in the area, King said. "We’ll see if they can talk her into taking that risk." Crist is a former Republican.

Just days after Jolly’s win –interpreted by many pundits as a referendum on Obamacare – the Tampa Bay Times reported that Sink said she was keeping an "open mind" about a rematch.

"It's a 50-50 district but it still leans right because of gerrymandering," Sink told the Times. "But I still think Washington is broken and needs better people."

Before serving as Florida’s chief financial officer from 2007 to 2011, Sink ran unsuccessfully to become the Sunshine State’s governor. Her late husband, Bill McBride, also ran for the office, losing to former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002.

The Hill reported that the National Republican Campaign Committee said a second shot at Jolly would be "the definition of insanity."

"Pinellas families rejected Alex Sink already once this year for being Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked candidate," NRCC spokeswoman Katie Prill said in a statement, according to The Hill.

Despite Alex Sink's defeat last month to Republican David Jolly in a special election for a Florida House seat, she's being lobbied by House Democrats to challenge Jolly again in November's midterm election, CNN's John King said.